OUR APPROACH

Serein is founded on belief that diversity and inclusion is a science not art. We are a team of scientists and sociologists who are passionate about driving better business outcomes through diversity. We partner with innovative and fast-growing companies to implement practical diversity solutions. By leveraging your employee data and the latest research, we identify conscious and unconscious barriers to an inclusive culture.

Ishani puts it simply – “We don’t. We think physical is the only form, but sexist jokes are also sexual harassment – even on SMS, WhatsApp, or email messages.” She believes that it is an issue of culture at the company.

Ishani Roy, Founder, and CEO, Serein, a Bengaluru-based consulting firm that is using a data-driven approach to promote diversity and inclusion at the workplace, says, “The Uber incident highlights that ‘growth at all costs’ approach that has been glamourised doesn’t really work in the long run."

“Most victims do not report due to fear of retaliation, embarrassment, lack of awareness and lack of confidence in the complaints mechanism,” says Ishani Roy, founder of Serein, a diversity and inclusion consulting firm in Bengaluru.

Class has many facets that affect employee’s recruitment and promotion in an organisation. In India, language, the accent with which English is spoken, sense of dressing and presentation are likely to influence a recruiter’s decision. Candidates that are assumed to belong to the higher class are thought to be worthy of being responsible for money, excelling at a task or seen as a representative of the best.

In a survey, Ficci and EY found that 36 per cent of Indian companies and 25 per cent of multinational corporations in India are not compliant with this Act. Even when companies form PoSH committees, parochial attitudes persist. It’s not uncommon to hear a business leader gripe that women use the law to their advantage or that it’s an unnecessary overhead for a business.

According to Chryslynn D'Costa, Head: Diversity and Inclusion at Serein, “Some companies believe that merely having an anti-sexual harassment policy or forming an internal committee (IC) implies compliance with the law. A common misconception of many employees is that the law only covers physical forms of misconduct." She told YourStory,

How then does one explain the helplessness of the victim or the urgency of the law to someone who had never experienced harassment? How do you explain the need for gender parity to someone who has never been on the receiving end of gender inequality?

FROM OUR BLOG

Implementing technologies for the visually challenged: 3D printed Braille labels, specially designed computer keyboard with Braille scripts, AI-based mobile app (‘Seeing AI’ from Microsoft) can go a long way in making them feel comfortable and better interact with teammates & work with productivity. Nearly 70 million specially challenged people across the world communicate in sign languages.

Increasingly these days, the privileged, urban dwelling families from the middle and upper echelons of society (pick any country) study and read about gender issues – but how often do they talk about it in their households?

In how many parts of the world is it possible for a woman to walk back home alone on a long, dark and desolate stretch of road in torrential rain and not be concerned about personal safety? I have forgotten what it is to be cautious, alert or anxious when my young daughters or I walk home alone in the dark.

So what’s wrong with expecting women and men to behave in ways that conform to their biological destinies? Shouldn’t women be expected to be nurturing, maternal, forgiving, submissive, collaborative and efficient? After all that’s what biology intended them to be. And as a corollary, since you are a woman shouldn’t you be arranging the coffee for a meeting? Or organizing the cake for a colleague’s farewell? After all it’s the extension of your nurturing instinct!

Flexi working hours, safe travel arrangements, generous leaves, and care facilities such as health check-ups, and child care options. The result? Most women don’t end up using these options available to them for fear of being singled out as having special needs and consequently being denied promotion and hike in the future.

The organization has set up a women’s book club – not a bad idea in itself. But the leadership mandates what the women should read (red flag, anyone?!), and Sheryl Sandberg and Marissa Meyer top the list. Again, wonderful and accomplished women, but his message here is that women’s advancement is the sole responsibility of women – organizations and (male) leaders have little to do with it.

High Courts and City civil courts ought to have more restrooms and baby changing stations for women (the latter is unheard of in our abodes of "justice"), women lawyers do not need to excel only in what some view soft subjects such as family law, power dressing to work does not automatically change my role to "sitting pretty" at a meeting, the length of my skirt had nothing to do with my ability to draft an SHA.

In 2005, Larry Summers, the then president of Harvard, during one fine lunch talk wondered if among other reasons innate biological differences in men and women are to be blamed for women’s failure in holding tenure track positions. We have come a long way; hopefully Mr. Summers did too, but instances like these provide us with a template of our own intrinsic bias.

‘bride price’ was common at weddings (where the bridegroom’s family paid a price to the bride’s family, in other words – not dowry!) and that there was an emphasis on equality and consent from both parties. What a wonderful idea – worship nature, respect each other and call it good.

It’s not because they are bad people and like to harass others in their free time. It’s mainly because they do not think these things happen often enough. Most men are also uncomfortable with the talk of physical harassment of any sort.

If we want a diverse and inclusive workforce, we need to start preparing for that at home. The gender pay gap is closing far too slowly - we need today's children, who are tomorrow's leaders, to understand why there should be no gender pay gap.

Diversity is more than just gender. It's about assimilating and benefiting from different identities, be it race, religion, socio economic background, language, or anything else. Diversity is all these disparate hues working to compliment each other. It's about thinking different.

I have often found that having a diverse team and opinions is not a question of being politically correct but a matter of strength. But for far too long, the debate around diversity has centred around men and women. I think diversity is more than just about gender.

That day, it occurred to me that I clean this stubborn dust day after day. If I stay at home, a significant portion of my life will be spent cleaning that mole of dust and doing the same household chores every day. I wanted to do more.

If you are confident of yourself, and believe in your own skills, then break is just a word. When you don’t get perturbed by it, nobody else does. Instead of worrying about what you can do, think about what you want to do and work towards it.